Junior of the Year: Okoye

Few players in the country have seen a more meteoric rise during the course of 2022 than Tulsa NOAH defensive end Daniel Okoye. The elite pass rushing defensive end came into the year both unknown nationally and without an offer to his name.

However, as his tape got around to numerous programs he picked up nearly 20 offers including Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oregon, and USC.

And the massive growth in his recruitment and leading his team to a national title helped make Okoye the 2022 SoonerScoop.com Junior of the Year.

What makes Okoye's story even more interesting is the reality that he's from a program like NOAH, a program comprised fully of homeschooled students.

Okoye, like many great players before him, started his career at mighty Jenks but as Covid hit he made a change of plans and joined NOAH.

It's a move that his head coach, James Ballinger, has certainly never regretted.

"We start volunteer drill workouts once a week in March, and as soon as he walked up in March of 2021, he definitely passed the eyeball test," Ballinger said.

"As we started doing drills I could tell he was not just size, but had some great athleticism.

"But, I could really tell how special he would be once we got pads on for spring practice that May. My son, Ezra Ballinger, is a really good left tackle for us, and as they would line up versus each other in practice, it was clear Danny could play."

In 2021 the Jaguars would go on to a solid 9-3 record but still Okoye, and NOAH itself, continued to go a bit overlooked. But in 2022 they went 10-2 and took home the homeschool national title with a 42-9 win over Georgia Force Christian.

"Last year was a very special season for us as a team, not just Danny as a player. We really gelled as a team. We ended up winning the Homeschool National Championship, a goal we have been working towards for many years now. Danny's growth as a player on and off the field was crucial in our success," he said.

Though the year was about far more than just the star defensive end, his numbers were solid - 43 tackles (35 solo), 16 tackles for loss, and six sacks - but Ballinger says that there could have been so much more if offenses hadn't made such a point to avoid Okoye.

"His stats don't show how dominant he was for us; as teams would scheme to run away from him, or even triple team him. But with other great players on our team, we ended up setting the NOAH defense record for least points scored on our road to the national championship," Ballinger explained.

And beyond all of that while Okoye has a big personality that has been seen at camps doing backflips and making sure everyone knows he's there, he's never let his own success impede that of his teammates and team in general.

"Danny is very coachable and has really bought into the vision we have for the team. He really loves his teammates. As his offers started to mount up throughout the season, he never made it about him, he would always point people back to his teammates, and just continue to play whatever roll coaches would ask of him."

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